Months before their Fig Tree wedding in Byron Bay, Jacob and Elyse filled in our booking questionnaire. One of the questions asks what’s most important to you about your film. They wrote this: “I think the most important thing for us … is that we don’t want anything “staged” we just want to capture the day and our friends having ugly laughs and having a great time.”
Ugly laughs! You know the ones, head back, eyes squeezed shut, someone slapping the table and a noise nobody would ever make on purpose. You can’t pose for one of those, and they’re exactly the bits you’ll want to watch again in twenty years. So how does Shaun catch them? Mostly by not asking for them. He hangs around close enough to hear the punchline but far enough away that nobody starts performing for the camera, and he just waits, and at a good wedding he never has to wait long… And every wedding at Fig Tree Restaurant is a good one.
Fig Tree keeps everyone on the move, from the ceremony under that huge old Moreton Bay fig to drinks afterwards, a few people wandering down to the pool, and then everyone heading inside for dinner (and the food there is amazing). It’s such a relaxed, unhurried kind of day, and when nobody’s watching the clock, people stop being on their best behaviour and the ugly laughs start creeping in.
Todd and Alyda were on photos for Jacob and Elyse’s day, and honestly, we’re always excited when we see their names on a runsheet. We’ve shared so many weddings with them over the years that at this point we’re working with friends rather than other suppliers, and we just sort of know where each other will be without having to say it (which means far fewer accidental cameos in each other’s shots haha). They’re lovely, they’re amazing at what they do, and we reckon couples can feel it when everyone behind the cameras are mates too.
We sent their film in November 2023 (hence our old branding on their film) with our usual plea to wait and watch it for the first time together, “with a glass of wine and popcorn of course”.
Elyse: “I’ve honestly just been watching the videos over and over and over. They are incredddddddible. Thankyou so so so much!!! You did an absolutely wonderful job.”
Shaun and TJ x
